Hall v. Aetna Life Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 August 1936
• Docket Number: No. 10420.,10420.
• Citation: 85 F.2d 447
• Parties: HALL v. ?TNA LIFE INS. CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

85 F.2d 447 (1936)

HALL v. ?TNA LIFE INS. CO.

No. 10420.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

August 12, 1936.

J. A. Tellier, of Little Rock, Ark., for appellant.

S. Lasker Ehrman, of Little Rock, Ark. (Grover T. Owens, of Little Rock, Ark., on the brief), for appellee.

Before GARDNER and SANBORN, Circuit Judges, and NORDBYE, District Judge.

SANBORN, Circuit Judge.

Kanady M. Hall, fifty-four years of age, a resident of Little Rock, Ark., and the insured under a $5,000 life policy issued by the ?tna Life Insurance Company, which policy contained a provision for monthly benefits in case of total and permanent disability, and a provision for double indemnity in case of accidental death, died on March 26, 1934. While intoxicated, he was a visitor at a lumber mill. A young man named Parker, who was employed there, in fun suggested throwing a pail of water on Hall to sober him up. He picked Hall up and laid him on a table. Hall got off the table and threw water from a pail at Parker. Hall drew a pocketknife with a blade about 2O inches long and rushed at Parker, who ran, but slipped and fell. Hall then stabbed him in the back. Parker got up and ran outside to escape from Hall, and then attempted to get the driver of an approaching automobile to take him to the hospital to have his wound dressed. Hall followed him. The owner of the mill, who appeared on the scene, told Hall to put away his knife. Hall put it away for a moment, but, as he again approached Parker, he drew it out and attempted to attack Parker, who, in self-defense, struck Hall in the jaw. Hall fell, hit his head upon a rock, fractured his skull, and shortly thereafter died. That Hall brought about the altercation which ended with his death is undisputed. Parker, a much younger and stronger man, tried to avoid injuring Hall, realizing that Hall was irresponsible from drink.

Mrs. Hall, the appellant, who was the beneficiary named in the policy, claimed double indemnity on the ground that the insured's death was accidental. The company paid her the face of the policy, but denied liability for double indemnity. She then brought this action at law to recover an additional $5,000, asserting that the insured's death was accidental. The company in its answer alleged that the insured died as the result of injuries sustained in an altercation in which he was the aggressor. In her reply Mrs. Hall denied that the insured was the aggressor, but alleged that on March 26, 1934, and long prior thereto, the insured was of unsound mind "and incapable of understanding the consequences and effect of his own acts." The case was tried to a jury, which returned a verdict for the defendant insurance company, and from the judgment entered thereon this appeal is taken.

Mrs. Hall (who will be referred to as plaintiff) challenges certain rulings upon evidence and the refusal of the court to give instructions to the jury requested by her.

The evidence as to how the death occurred was undisputed. The issue of fact was a simple one — whether the insured was insane at the time he attacked Parker.

To establish the insanity of the insured, the plaintiff introduced a certified copy of an order of the probate court of Pulaski county, Ark., dated February 1, 1934, adjudging the insured to be "a person of unsound mind and mentally incompetent," and appointing plaintiff his guardian. There was evidence tending to show that the adjudication was procured to enable Mrs. Hall to obtain the monthly payments being made to the insured under his policy of insurance because of total and permanent disability and to establish a basis for setting aside a contract which the insured had made with a lawyer, by the terms of which the lawyer was to receive one-half of such disability payments in consideration of services in establishing the total and permanent disability of the insured under the policy. The evidence indicated that the insured had at one time been a successful lumberman, but that intoxicating liquor had virtually destroyed him both physically and financially. He was frequently intoxicated, squandered his money in drinking and gambling, and neglected his wife and family. There was testimony tending to prove that the insured's mental condition was such during the period shortly prior to his death that he did not understand the consequences of his acts. One medical expert expressed the opinion that he was in that condition at the time of the altercation, saying: "If this individual had been a child we would say he didn't know what it was all about, didn't know any better because he didn't know the effects of his acts. He didn't know what it was all about. This man's condition was very similar, he didn't know what it was all about." There was testimony, on the other hand, that when sober the insured was sane and would know that it was wrong to stab a man in the back. The test of insanity which plaintiff adopted throughout the trial in the examination of witnesses was failure to understand consequences, while that used by the defendant was failure to understand the difference between right and wrong. Up to the close of the testimony, no dispute had arisen between the parties as to the proper test of insanity.

Plaintiff made nine requests for instructions. The requests for instructions in so far as they are of importance on this appeal were in words or substance as follows:

(1) That "the sole issue to be determined is whether or not the reasoning faculties of the said Kanady M. Hall were so impaired on the date he became engaged in said affray that he was unable to understand or comprehend the moral character, the general nature, consequences and effects of the act he was about to commit."

(2) That, "when the reasoning faculties of an insured are so far impaired that he is unable to understand the moral character, the general nature, consequences and effect of the act he is about to commit, or when he is impelled thereto by an insane impulse, which he has not the power to resist, he is incapable of becoming the aggressor in an affray."

(3-5) That, if the insured's insanity was caused by drinking of liquor over a long period of time, the verdict should be for her, and that such insanity would have the same effect as insanity from any other cause.

(6) That the adjudication of the insured as an insane or an incompetent person was prima facie evidence of insanity, and that, after proof of such adjudication, the burden of proof was upon the insurance company to show that the insured was of sound mind at the time of his death.

(7) That the term "accidental" is used in the policy in its ordinary sense, in which sense it means happening by chance, unexpectedly taking place, not according to the usual course of things.

(8) That, if the insured "was of unsound mind and not responsible for his acts, then he did not voluntarily commit an assault upon J. E. Parker, or become the aggressor in the affray, not being responsible for the consequences of his acts, his death was caused by accidental means within the meaning of the policy."

(9) That, if the death of the insured was due to an affray with Parker in which the assured "was the aggressor, but at a time when the reasoning faculties of said Hall were so far impaired that he was not able to understand the moral character, general nature or consequence or effect of the act he was about to commit, or that he was impelled thereto by an insane impulse which he had not the power to resist, such act of aggression was an involuntary act of the said Kanady M. Hall and your verdict will be for the plaintiff."

The court, before delivering the charge to the jury, refused to give any of these instructions, and plaintiff then took an exception to the court's refusal of each request.

The court charged the jury that plaintiff claimed that the insured was insane at the time he started the fight which ended in his death, and could not know the result of what he was doing; that the defendant claimed that the insured was sane, but intoxicated; that, if the insured was insane, although drunk, the plaintiff could recover, but that, if he was sane and drunk, she could not; that, if the insured when sober knew the difference between right and wrong, he was sane; but, if he did not, he was insane. The court also charged as follows: "If the insured, Hall, at the time or prior to the time he entered into this fight was insane, did not know the difference between right and wrong, did not know that he might reasonably expect a man to fight back if he made an attack upon him, and would not have known that had he not drunk anything at the time, then the plaintiff can recover although Hall did take a drink."

The court also charged: "Insanity is such a condition of mind as renders a person incapable of knowing right from wrong"; that it would make no difference what brought about the insanity; that the issue to be determined was, "Did Hall at the time * * * that he engaged in this fight, have such a mentality as would enable him to know the difference between right and wrong had he not had whisky in him?"

On the burden of proof, the court charged as follows: "The burden of proof rests upon the plaintiff. The plaintiff must show by a preponderance of the testimony that Hall was insane and not drunk at the time that the difficulty occurred which resulted in his death. If the testimony is evenly divided as to whether he was insane or as to whether he was drunk, then the plaintiff must lose because the burden rests upon her to show he was insane."

At the close of his charge the court said: "The requested instructions upon both sides, so far as they are in conflict with the instructions given by the court, are denied." Plaintiff's counsel then said: "We have no further exceptions to save to the Court's charge."

The plaintiff contends that her exceptions to the court's refusal or failure to give her requested instructions were sufficient. That we very much...